When Prince Frederick Ernest of Saxe-Altenburg requested a meeting with Anna Anderson in 1931, she responded, “How can I know you are really a person of royalty and not a Polish factory worker?” This was because a Romanov family faction was saying she was not Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, but Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker (image). (Background: The Franziska Schanzkowska Canard, Ersjdamoo’s Blog, October 2, 2014.)

In 1922, the woman called by the Berlin authorities Fräulein Unbekannt (Miss Unknown) had pains in her lung and collapsed. She was treated with digitalis and morphia. The doctor’s report noted, “In her sleep she talks Russian with good pronunciation: mostly unessential things.” [1] A “Polish factory worker” who speaks excellent Russian in her sleep… Amazing!

Several witnesses have affirmed that the “Miss Unknown” sometimes spoke Russian during the first years after she was rescued from the Landwehr Canal by a Berlin policeman. Erna Buchholz, a Russian-speaking Balt who nursed the mystery woman from 1920 to 1922, stated that the “Miss Unknown” spoke Russian in a polished manner “as only happens in highly-placed families.” [1] Quite amazing for a mere “Polish factory worker,” is it not?

Lili von Dehn had known the Grand Duchess Anastasia well for ten years, 1907 to 1917. She finally met the “Miss Unknown”, by then called Anna Anderson (image), in 1957. Von Dehn gave a deposition in which she mentioned that Anna “did not like or want to speak Russian, but the few words which escaped her were absolutely correct.” The reason for this is that English, not Russian, was the primary language of the Grand Duchess Anastasia: “The imperial children were in fact brought up speaking mainly English within the family. They of course knew Russian, and often spoke it with their father, but it was to a great extent a secondary language used for addressing outsiders and the palace staff.” [1]

And how could Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker, have known about an ultra-secret peace mission to Russia in 1916? Reportedly, in the midst of the First World War, with bitter hostilities between Germany and Russia, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse covertly visited Russia. The existence of this peace mission remains disputed, but around 1967 a former Russian prince (apparently Prince Dimitri Golitsyn) was located. He testified that he had been employed at Tsarskoye Selo (“The Tsar’s Village”), near St. Petersburg, in 1916. There he had been told that the Grand Duke of Hesse was visiting. [2] It is uncanny how a “Polish factory worker” had casually mentioned how, the last time she had seen her Uncle Ernie, it was “In the war, with us at home.” [1]

When the “Polish factory worker” had mentioned seeing her Uncle Ernie during the First World War, it seemed at first impossible that the Grand Duke of Hesse, a German General, would have made such a visit. Later however, the Princess Thurn und Taxis, an Infanta of Portugal and niece of Archduke Josef of Austria-Hungary, deposed under oath: “I learned of the secret visit of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse from my uncle Archduke Josef of Austria-Hungary. He learned of it not as a member of the High Command, but from within the Imperial Family.” Other testimony corroborates that the secret visit in fact occurred. [3]

Inevitably, the “DNA evidence” bugaboo appears when connected with various aspects of the still unsolved mystery of what did happen to the Russian imperial family. The DNA bugaboo is the Gerald Posner of the Romanov affair. “Shut up, roll over, and go back to sleep. JFK’s assassination has been solved for you,” commented John Kimsey in his deconstruction of Gerald Posner’s book, Case Closed. [4] The DNA bugaboo is the Romanov version of “Shut up, roll over, and go back to sleep.” To too many people it is a Golden Calf which throws a wet blanket over further inquiry.

Anna Anderson emigrated to the United States in 1968 and settled in Charlottesville, Virginia. She married Jack Manahan, a Virginia history professor. (In the picture you can hopefully see above, Anna holds an invitation to Richard Nixon’s inauguration and Jack holds a print illustrating Anastasia’s father, Tsar Nicholas II.) Rey Barry wrote about Anna Anderson for her hometown paper, The Daily Progress, and for the Associated Press. Barry knew Anna and Jack for many years. Regarding DNA testing done on an alleged lock of Anderson’s hair and surviving medical samples of her tissue, which supposedly yielded a “case closed proof” that Anna Anderson was the Polish factory worker, Franziska Schanzkowska, Rey Barry had this to say: “I believe Anna Anderson was Anastasia and the crucial DNA sample was switched in transit.” [5]

The intestine tissue sample went from Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville, Virginia, to the UK by mail, and passed through many hands including customs before it reached the lab. Some of the most well-entrenched, influential, and resourceful people in Europe, including English royalty, had a huge interest in that package. Because it went by mail, no one can say with certainty that the piece of intestine that began the trip is the same piece of intestine that was delivered. [5]

As for the DNA tests done using the alleged lock of Anna Anderson’s hair, that is almost too laughable to deal with. In 1992, locks of what were presumably Anna’s hair were found in an envelope in a bookstore in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The envelope, conveniently labeled “Anastasia’s hair”, is the uncertain provenance for DNA tests done on 6 strands of the hair. [6]

Gleb Botkin, close friend of both Grand Duchess Anastasia and Anna Anderson (he believed they were the same person) had a daughter, Marina Schweitzer. She had her own doubts about the intestine tissue sample DNA tests. Marina thought it was connected with Queen Elizabeth and her visit to Russia in October 1994. There had been minimal security for the tissue samples; they could have been switched by agents of the British crown. The tissue samples while stored for years in the hospital had not been given the security level of court evidence and had not been kept under seal. [6]

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About ersjdamoo

Editor of Conspiracy Nation, later renamed Melchizedek Communique. Close associate of the late Sherman H. Skolnick. Jack of all trades, master of none. Sagittarius, with Sagittarius rising. I'm not a bum, I'm a philosopher.

Also, the tissue from Martha Jefferson Hospital did not go to England by mail. It was accompanied by dr. Gill who never let it out of his hands. Many have tried to cast aspersions on the chain of custody, but it turned out that the hospital had slices from the tissue stored in the histology department. The slices were compared with the tissue, which was stored in the pathology department, and it was a perfect match. The hair samples were found in the bookstore in 1990 and tested in 1992. The DNA sequence matched that of the tissue kept by the hospital. Franzisca was not Polish, but German of Polish heritage. As for speaking Russian with nurse Buchholz, Franzisca told Dr. Bohnhoeffer that ” it was impossible that she had spoken Russian with the nurse.” The alleged Hessenreise did not take place, but rumors were flying all over Germany, and this is what Franzisca picked up on.
I am simply amazed at how uninformed you are about all this.